我們從小就有一種根深蒂固的觀點認為,,高碳水化合物的食物應該在減肥期中的欺騙日,、馬拉松訓練和想要獲得安慰的時候食用。但就像有許多新食品制造商用植物性和基于谷物的人造肉挑戰(zhàn)肉類行業(yè)一樣,,現(xiàn)在谷物食品行業(yè)也迎來了挑戰(zhàn)者,。
BetterBrand于2021年6月在美國加利福尼亞州成立,,提供手工制作的食物。該公司計劃推出一系列慰藉身心的美食,,人們可以自由享受,,也不會犧牲味道。實質(zhì)上,,該公司希望人們只感受到美食帶來的快感,,但不必產(chǎn)生罪惡感。該公司首先選擇的是最能夠慰藉身心但碳水化合物含量較高的一種面包:百吉餅,。
該公司已經(jīng)獲得了多筆投資,投資者包括Reddit的聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人亞歷克西斯·奧哈尼安,、好萊塢女演員艾米·羅森以及連鎖快餐品牌Wendy’s的創(chuàng)始人大衛(wèi)·托馬斯的孫子肖恩·托馬斯,。
《財富》雜志最近采訪了BetterBrand的創(chuàng)始人艾米·楊,討論了該公司第一年的經(jīng)營狀況,,并展望了替代性食物市場的未來,。
為明確起見,,以下采訪內(nèi)容經(jīng)過編輯,。
《財富》:能否簡要介紹一下您的職業(yè)背景和創(chuàng)建BetterBrand之前的經(jīng)歷?
艾米·楊:我內(nèi)心里一直想成為一名企業(yè)家,,所以我一直在有意地積累知識,,因為我知道當我準備創(chuàng)業(yè)的時候,這些知識將發(fā)揮重要的作用,。
我的職業(yè)生涯開始于安永(Ernst & Young),,成為一名注冊公共會計師(CPA),在美國芝加哥,,我學到了經(jīng)營一家公司的基本知識,;在印度班加羅爾,我參與創(chuàng)建了安永的全球人才中心(Global Talent Hub),,學會了企業(yè)運營,、團隊建設(shè)和跨文化融合;然后在美國紐約負責訴訟策略,,學會了如何從龐大的,、錯綜復雜的數(shù)據(jù)集中找出解決方案。后來我辭去工作,,去一所頂級高校就讀,,取得了沃頓商學院(Wharton School)的MBA學位,同時修了企業(yè)與戰(zhàn)略管理雙學位,。
是什么啟發(fā)您創(chuàng)建了BetterBrand,?
我之所以創(chuàng)建BetterBrand,,是因為我有一個大夢想,希望徹底改變消費者消費食品的體驗,。這源自我自己解決個人在飲食和健康方面的痛點的過程,。我想吃東西的時候總是會陷入無休止的循環(huán):吃了就會有罪惡感,不吃又感覺被剝脫了享受美食的權(quán)利,。這件事情占據(jù)了我大量的精力,,產(chǎn)生了太多負面的焦慮情緒。我曾經(jīng)幻想有這樣一個世界:我可以隨意享用想吃的美食,,不需要擔心變胖或者產(chǎn)生負面的健康后果,。
通過不斷研究數(shù)據(jù),我逐漸意識到這不只是我一個人的煩惱,。統(tǒng)計數(shù)據(jù)讓我感到非常震驚:目前美國每3例死亡病例中,,就有2例與肥胖癥和2型糖尿病等慢性疾病有關(guān)。美國三分之二的成年人和3700萬兒童存在超重和肥胖問題,。2900萬美國人患有糖尿病,,另有8600萬人是糖尿病前期患者,合計占美國人口的36%,。全世界三分之二非傳染病死亡病例的主要死因都與肥胖癥有關(guān),。而消費精制碳水化合物(市場規(guī)模超過10萬億美元)是全世界引發(fā)肥胖癥最主要的原因。
利用該領(lǐng)域的技術(shù)創(chuàng)新,,不僅能夠打造一個我們一直夢寐以求的世界,,還可以從宏觀上產(chǎn)生巨大的影響力,改善人類健康,。我們下定決心要成為精制碳水化合物市場領(lǐng)先的創(chuàng)新者,,而最好的方式莫過于改造碳水化合物含量最高的食物(例如百吉餅),使其碳水化合物含量降低到相當于兩片香蕉,,同時又不會失去其原有的功能,。
百吉餅之所以能夠慰藉人們的身心,在于它口感綿密有嚼勁,,并且味道可口,。您在改造外形更精致的新型百吉餅的過程中,如何確定配方,?
“The Better Bagel”復制了普通百吉餅的味道和口感,,只是各方面的優(yōu)點更加突出。其碳水化合物含量降低了90%,,蛋白質(zhì)含量提高了250%,,并且絕對沒有額外添加糖,。它完全基于植物,并且我們非常重視配料的品質(zhì),。所有配料都獲得了非轉(zhuǎn)基因認證,,配料表都使用清潔標簽。
Better Bagel去除了人們可能產(chǎn)生的任何負面聯(lián)系,,讓你可以充分享受美食體驗,,此外它避免了“普通”百吉餅可能產(chǎn)生的負面的健康后果,能夠讓人們放棄節(jié)食的想法,。我們希望打造一個可以不受約束,、自由享用美食的世界,這是第一步,。我們從各方面獲得了積極反饋,,這令我們非常激動,能夠在如此短的時間里產(chǎn)生影響力,,對此我們非常感恩。
BetterBrand自2021年成立以來已經(jīng)吸引了許多著名的投資者,。您能否分享一下您推銷的過程,?您對其他計劃融資的創(chuàng)業(yè)者有什么建議?如果根據(jù)您到目前為止的經(jīng)驗,,您可能會采取哪些不同的融資策略,?
我們的融資過程一直非常幸運,因為我們不需要專門拿出時間融資,。我堅信,,作為公司的創(chuàng)始人,只要你對自己的產(chǎn)品和使命有信心,,就應該盡早將其推向市場,,開始學習、提高影響力并講好你的創(chuàng)業(yè)故事,。這也會讓融資變得更容易,;當投資者自己發(fā)現(xiàn)你的產(chǎn)品之后,他們就會對你的故事產(chǎn)生興趣,。而且,,這樣一來你就可以確定,這些投資者與你志同道合,,他們認同你的愿景,,并且真正熱愛你的品牌。
這就是我們種子輪融資的過程:投資者直接找到我們,,而不是我們?nèi)ふ彝顿Y者,,最后我們吸引了一批最了不起的投資者,,比如亞歷克西斯·奧哈尼安的776 Fund、凱爾·沃格特,、帕特里克·施瓦辛格,、Soma Capital、Verso Capital等,。
BetterBrand未來五年的發(fā)展目標是什么,?您接下來計劃改造哪些食品?
我們的目標是挑戰(zhàn)和顛覆百事可樂公司(PepsiCo)與卡夫食品(Kraft)主導的市場,,將那些令人垂涎三尺但精制碳水化合物含量較高的美食,,改造成為對身體有益的食物。從比薩餅皮到漢堡面包再到椒鹽卷餅,,我們計劃繼續(xù)讓這些美食變得更健康,。(財富中文網(wǎng))
翻譯:劉進龍
審校:汪皓
我們從小就有一種根深蒂固的觀點認為,高碳水化合物的食物應該在減肥期中的欺騙日,、馬拉松訓練和想要獲得安慰的時候食用,。但就像有許多新食品制造商用植物性和基于谷物的人造肉挑戰(zhàn)肉類行業(yè)一樣,現(xiàn)在谷物食品行業(yè)也迎來了挑戰(zhàn)者,。
BetterBrand于2021年6月在美國加利福尼亞州成立,,提供手工制作的食物。該公司計劃推出一系列慰藉身心的美食,,人們可以自由享受,,也不會犧牲味道。實質(zhì)上,,該公司希望人們只感受到美食帶來的快感,,但不必產(chǎn)生罪惡感。該公司首先選擇的是最能夠慰藉身心但碳水化合物含量較高的一種面包:百吉餅,。
該公司已經(jīng)獲得了多筆投資,,投資者包括Reddit的聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人亞歷克西斯·奧哈尼安、好萊塢女演員艾米·羅森以及連鎖快餐品牌Wendy’s的創(chuàng)始人大衛(wèi)·托馬斯的孫子肖恩·托馬斯,。
《財富》雜志最近采訪了BetterBrand的創(chuàng)始人艾米·楊,,討論了該公司第一年的經(jīng)營狀況,并展望了替代性食物市場的未來,。
為明確起見,,以下采訪內(nèi)容經(jīng)過編輯。
《財富》:能否簡要介紹一下您的職業(yè)背景和創(chuàng)建BetterBrand之前的經(jīng)歷,?
艾米·楊:我內(nèi)心里一直想成為一名企業(yè)家,,所以我一直在有意地積累知識,,因為我知道當我準備創(chuàng)業(yè)的時候,這些知識將發(fā)揮重要的作用,。
我的職業(yè)生涯開始于安永(Ernst & Young),,成為一名注冊公共會計師(CPA),在美國芝加哥,,我學到了經(jīng)營一家公司的基本知識,;在印度班加羅爾,我參與創(chuàng)建了安永的全球人才中心(Global Talent Hub),,學會了企業(yè)運營,、團隊建設(shè)和跨文化融合;然后在美國紐約負責訴訟策略,,學會了如何從龐大的,、錯綜復雜的數(shù)據(jù)集中找出解決方案。后來我辭去工作,,去一所頂級高校就讀,,取得了沃頓商學院(Wharton School)的MBA學位,同時修了企業(yè)與戰(zhàn)略管理雙學位,。
是什么啟發(fā)您創(chuàng)建了BetterBrand,?
我之所以創(chuàng)建BetterBrand,是因為我有一個大夢想,,希望徹底改變消費者消費食品的體驗。這源自我自己解決個人在飲食和健康方面的痛點的過程,。我想吃東西的時候總是會陷入無休止的循環(huán):吃了就會有罪惡感,,不吃又感覺被剝脫了享受美食的權(quán)利。這件事情占據(jù)了我大量的精力,,產(chǎn)生了太多負面的焦慮情緒,。我曾經(jīng)幻想有這樣一個世界:我可以隨意享用想吃的美食,不需要擔心變胖或者產(chǎn)生負面的健康后果,。
通過不斷研究數(shù)據(jù),,我逐漸意識到這不只是我一個人的煩惱。統(tǒng)計數(shù)據(jù)讓我感到非常震驚:目前美國每3例死亡病例中,,就有2例與肥胖癥和2型糖尿病等慢性疾病有關(guān),。美國三分之二的成年人和3700萬兒童存在超重和肥胖問題。2900萬美國人患有糖尿病,,另有8600萬人是糖尿病前期患者,,合計占美國人口的36%。全世界三分之二非傳染病死亡病例的主要死因都與肥胖癥有關(guān),。而消費精制碳水化合物(市場規(guī)模超過10萬億美元)是全世界引發(fā)肥胖癥最主要的原因,。
利用該領(lǐng)域的技術(shù)創(chuàng)新,,不僅能夠打造一個我們一直夢寐以求的世界,還可以從宏觀上產(chǎn)生巨大的影響力,,改善人類健康,。我們下定決心要成為精制碳水化合物市場領(lǐng)先的創(chuàng)新者,而最好的方式莫過于改造碳水化合物含量最高的食物(例如百吉餅),,使其碳水化合物含量降低到相當于兩片香蕉,,同時又不會失去其原有的功能。
百吉餅之所以能夠慰藉人們的身心,,在于它口感綿密有嚼勁,,并且味道可口。您在改造外形更精致的新型百吉餅的過程中,,如何確定配方,?
“The Better Bagel”復制了普通百吉餅的味道和口感,只是各方面的優(yōu)點更加突出,。其碳水化合物含量降低了90%,,蛋白質(zhì)含量提高了250%,并且絕對沒有額外添加糖,。它完全基于植物,,并且我們非常重視配料的品質(zhì)。所有配料都獲得了非轉(zhuǎn)基因認證,,配料表都使用清潔標簽,。
Better Bagel去除了人們可能產(chǎn)生的任何負面聯(lián)系,讓你可以充分享受美食體驗,,此外它避免了“普通”百吉餅可能產(chǎn)生的負面的健康后果,,能夠讓人們放棄節(jié)食的想法。我們希望打造一個可以不受約束,、自由享用美食的世界,,這是第一步。我們從各方面獲得了積極反饋,,這令我們非常激動,,能夠在如此短的時間里產(chǎn)生影響力,對此我們非常感恩,。
BetterBrand自2021年成立以來已經(jīng)吸引了許多著名的投資者,。您能否分享一下您推銷的過程?您對其他計劃融資的創(chuàng)業(yè)者有什么建議,?如果根據(jù)您到目前為止的經(jīng)驗,,您可能會采取哪些不同的融資策略?
我們的融資過程一直非常幸運,因為我們不需要專門拿出時間融資,。我堅信,,作為公司的創(chuàng)始人,只要你對自己的產(chǎn)品和使命有信心,,就應該盡早將其推向市場,,開始學習、提高影響力并講好你的創(chuàng)業(yè)故事,。這也會讓融資變得更容易,;當投資者自己發(fā)現(xiàn)你的產(chǎn)品之后,他們就會對你的故事產(chǎn)生興趣,。而且,,這樣一來你就可以確定,這些投資者與你志同道合,,他們認同你的愿景,,并且真正熱愛你的品牌。
這就是我們種子輪融資的過程:投資者直接找到我們,,而不是我們?nèi)ふ彝顿Y者,,最后我們吸引了一批最了不起的投資者,比如亞歷克西斯·奧哈尼安的776 Fund,、凱爾·沃格特,、帕特里克·施瓦辛格、Soma Capital,、Verso Capital等,。
BetterBrand未來五年的發(fā)展目標是什么?您接下來計劃改造哪些食品,?
我們的目標是挑戰(zhàn)和顛覆百事可樂公司(PepsiCo)與卡夫食品(Kraft)主導的市場,,將那些令人垂涎三尺但精制碳水化合物含量較高的美食,改造成為對身體有益的食物,。從比薩餅皮到漢堡面包再到椒鹽卷餅,我們計劃繼續(xù)讓這些美食變得更健康,。(財富中文網(wǎng))
翻譯:劉進龍
審校:汪皓
It’s been engrained in our brains from early age that carb-heavy foods are reserved for cheat days, marathon training, and comfort. But much like how there are many new purveyors challenging the meat industry with plant- and grain-based alternatives, now there are challengers coming for the grains themselves.
Founded in June 2021 and handmade in California, BetterBrand plans to introduce a new wave of comfort foods without restriction and without sacrificing flavor. Essentially, it wants to take the guilt out of guilty pleasures. And the company is starting with one of the most comforting, but carb-heavy, breads there is: the bagel.
The company has already received investments from Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian, Hollywood actress Emmy Rossum, and Sean Thomas, the grandson of fast-food chain Wendy’s founder Dave Thomas.
Fortune recently spoke with founder Aimee Yang about the first year in business and the future of this alternative food category.
The following interview has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity.
Fortune: Can you share a bit about your professional background and experience prior to founding BetterBrand?
Aimee Yang: I always knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur, and I was intentional in gathering knowledge that I knew would one day prove to be valuable when I was ready to be in the founder’s seat.
I started my career at Ernst & Young as a certified public accountant (CPA} In Chicago to learn the fundamentals of how a company operates; spent time in Bangalore, India building EY's Global Talent Hub to learn operations, teaming, and cross-cultural integration; then transitioned into litigation strategy in New York to learn how to distill solutions from large, incongruent data sets. I capped off my experience with an education capstone by getting my MBA at Wharton School, where I double majored in entrepreneurship and strategic management.
What inspired you to launch BetterBrand?
BetterBrand was created with the large-scale vision of completely transforming the consumer experience with food. It stemmed from me trying to solve my own personal pain-point around diet and healthy eating. I was always on an endless cycle of wanting to eat something; if I did, I would feel guilty, if I didn't, I would feel deprived. It consumed so much of my mind space and garnered so much negative anxiety. I used to dream of a world where I could eat the foods that I craved freely, without ever having to worry about weight gain or negative health consequences.
The more I dove into the data, the more I realized that this wasn’t just about me. The stats I found were astounding: chronic diseases associated with obesity and Type 2 Diabetes are now responsible for two out of every three deaths in America. Excess weight and obesity affect two-thirds of all American adults and 37 million children. 29 million Americans are diabetic and another 86 million are pre-diabetic—a total of 36% of the U.S. population. Worldwide, obesity is implicated in two-thirds of the leading causes of death from non-communicable diseases. And the consumption of refined carbohydrates (a $10 trillion+ market) is the single largest driver of obesity in the world.
Using technology to innovate in this area not only allows us to create that world we’ve always dreamed of, it also allows us to drive significant impact and improvement to human health on a macro level. What better way to start and put our stake in the ground as leading innovators in the refined carb space, than by transforming the most carb heavy food (a bagel) into the carb equivalent of two banana slices while being highly functional?
Bagels are comforting for a reason—they're dense and chewy and tasty. What was your recipe tasting process like for recreating these attributes in a new, and presumably lighter, form factor?
"The Better Bagel" was designed to replicate the taste and texture of a regular bagel, just redesigned to be made better in every way. It has 90% fewer carbs, 250% more protein, and absolutely no added sugar. It's completely plant-based, and we're hyper-focused on ingredient quality. Everything is non-GMO certified, and our ingredient deck is completely clean label.
The Better Bagel allows you to fully enjoy your eating experience by removing any negative connections someone may have, and quieting that diet mentality some may feel by removing the negative health consequences of a “regular” bagel. This is the first step in creating a world where we can eat all the foods we crave, freely and without restriction. We’ve been so grateful for the excitement and positive response we've received across the board and the impact we've been able to drive in a short amount of time.
BetterBrand has already attracted a number of high-profile investors since launching just last year. Can you share more about what the pitch process was like? What advice would you give to other startup founders looking for funding? What might you do differently based on your experience so far?
We’ve been really lucky with our fundraising process in that we didn’t have to allocate time to fundraising. I wholeheartedly believe that, as a founder, if you have faith in your product and mission, you should get it out in the market as early as possible to start learning, driving impact, and telling your story. This also makes fundraising much easier; when investors find the product on their own, they become invested in the story. This also gives you clarity that they are the right investors who are aligned with your vision and have a genuine love for the brand.
This is how things materialized for our seed round: investors found us rather than the other way around, and that’s how we ended up with the most incredible group of investors including Alexis Ohanian’s 776 Fund, Kyle Vogt, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Soma Capital, Verso Capital, and so forth.
Looking forward in five years, how do you want to grow BetterBrand? What other kind of food products do you want to recreate next?
Our goal is to rival and disrupt the PepsiCo’s and Kraft's of the world, transforming all categories of crave-worthy foods that are heavy in refined carbs into foods that functionally great for us. From pizza crusts, to burger buns, to soft pretzels—we intend to continue to transform the foods that we know can be better.